Screen exposure in relation to cool and hot executive functions in preschoolers: parenting processes as mediators and...

As digital media become pervasive in preschoolers' daily routines, a growing body of evidence links excessive screen exposure to poorer executive function (EF)-a key predictor of academic achievement and lifelong well‑being. However, the mechanisms through which screen exposure relates to cool (cognitive) versus hot (emotionally salient) EF remain insufficiently understood. To address this gap, the present study examines whether distinct parenting processes statistically mediate these relations and whether parental growth mindset moderates the resulting indirect pathways.

We recruited 299 Chinese preschoolers (M_age = 66.19 months, SD = 7.14, Agerange = 52-78 months; 54.8% boys) and their primary caregivers via a convenience sampling in Hangzhou. Caregivers reported children's average daily screen time, their own growth mindset, and two dimensions of parenting processes: autonomy support and warmth. Children completed established tasks assessing cool EF (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) and hot EF (emotional decision-making and delay of gratification). Moderated mediation models tested (a) whether autonomy support and warmth statistically mediated the relations between screen exposure and EF outcomes and (b) whether parental growth mindset moderated these indirect effects.

Greater screen exposure was related to poorer performance on both cool and hot EF tasks. An indirect pathway through parenting processes also emerged, with autonomy support and parental warmth serving as separate mediators. Specifically, autonomy support mediated the relation between screen exposure and cool EF, whereas parental warmth mediated the relation between screen exposure and hot EF. Parental growth mindset further moderated these indirect pathways: conditional indirect effect analyses showed that the mediation through autonomy support (for cool EF) and warmth (for hot EF) was statistically significant at medium and high levels of parental growth mindset, but not at low levels. This pattern suggests that the extent to which parenting processes statistically link screen exposure to children's EF varies as a function of parents' growth-oriented beliefs.

Higher screen exposure was related to lower levels of preschoolers' EF, manifesting as difficulties in regulating cognition and emotion. The findings support differential indirect pathways, whereby autonomy support and warmth serve as distinct mediating processes for cool and hot EF, respectively, and these indirect relations are stronger when parents endorse more growth-oriented beliefs. These findings suggest that interventions may benefit from combining developmentally appropriate guidance for managing children's media use with efforts to strengthen autonomy-supportive and warm parenting practices and to cultivate parents' growth mindset.